SEVERE: End event threw exception
java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.IntrospectionUtils.callMethod1(IntrospectionUtils.java:922)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.SetNextRule.end(SetNextRule.java:193)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Rule.end(Rule.java:229)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.endElement(Digester.java:1140)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.endElement(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractXMLDocumentParser.emptyElement(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanStartElement(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl$FragmentContentDispatcher.dispatch(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XMLParser.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.parse(Digester.java:1644)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.load(Catalina.java:516)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.load(Catalina.java:550)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.load(Bootstrap.java:260)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:412)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Configuration error: Must be attached to a Context
at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.setContainer(AuthenticatorBase.java:265)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.addValve(StandardPipeline.java:436)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addValve(ContainerBase.java:1217)
... 26 more
Oct 12, 2010 3:33:01 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load
WARNING: Catalina.start using conf/server.xml:
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Configuration error: Must be attached to a Context
at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.createSAXException(Digester.java:2808)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.createSAXException(Digester.java:2834)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.endElement(Digester.java:1143)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.endElement(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractXMLDocumentParser.emptyElement(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanStartElement(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl$FragmentContentDispatcher.dispatch(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XMLParser.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.parse(Digester.java:1644)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.load(Catalina.java:516)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.load(Catalina.java:550)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.load(Bootstrap.java:260)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:412)
Oct 12, 2010 3:33:01 PM org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester endElement
SEVERE: End event threw exception

I am not sure I understand. Are you saying you took the waffle-negotiate demo and just deleted the context.xml and it still works? That can't be, so it's probably cause the configuration is cached - I bet that if you delete Tomcat's
work and conf/Catalina/localhost directories it will stop working.

Tell me about your application, how you do authentication today, and what you're trying to solve. Maybe that's a better place to start.

The application is Struts based J2EE with NTLM authentication with IIS doing pass through to tomcat for SSO (isapi_redirect.dll). It doesn't have a context.xml file but reads from external cfg file. We have to add ssl to all open ports and this stopped sso
from working. I'm trying to resolve the issue of sso and ssl. I tried adding the context to the server.xml but that didn't work.

I think you're on the right track. Get rid of IIS, but use the Waffle filter, not the valve as those are deprecated. Whatever code you have that deals with authentication can be deleted, the session will be authenticated upfront by Waffle and you can retrieve
the current user information the normal Servlet/Tomcat way.